Case Number 24742: Small Claims Court

PEACE, LOVE, AND MISUNDERSTANDING (BLU-RAY)

The Charge

From hippie to dippy in one cinematic swoop...

The Case

Jane Fonda? A hippie? Is this someone's idea of a joke? Well, it is actually.
Bruce Beresford, the earnest Australian director who brought both Robert Duvall
(Tender Mercies) and Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy) their only
acting Oscars, thinks so. Offering the infamous anti-war figure from the 1960s
(who earned the awful nickname "Hanoi Jane" during that controversial time) a
chance to play flower child must have seemed like the greatest of great ideas,
right up there with sliced bread, the folded paper napkin, and splicing dinosaur
DNA with frog parts to build an amusement park. Yet the end result, the rather
contrived and lifeless Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding (Nick Lowe
should sue) does little except let the otherwise age-defiant actress spread her
graying hair goofball wings and...well...The rest of this mess meanders around
the same staid life lessons that a dozen other derivative films have fostered
over the years -- to wit: if you simply let life flow over you with a spirit of
happiness and heart, you'll be a much better off and better feeling member of
the cosmic chorus, or something like that. All one can say in response is, "Oh
brother..."

Fonda is Grace, the Woodstock Nation refugee who never left upstate New York
once the last strains of Jimi Hendrix's celebrated set wafted off the muddy
dairy farm grounds. Her defiant daughter Diane (Catherine Keener, Being John
Malkovich) was born there, has grown up to become a tight-ass lawyer, and
has since denied her mother. In other words, they have drifted apart (go
figure). Even though it's been twenty years since they've spoken, Ms. Attorney
seeks out her pot-headed parent when her husband (Kyle MacLachlan, Dune)
demands a divorce. Dragging Zoe (Elizabeth Olsen, Silent House), her
distraught vegan eldest and wannabe teen auteur son Jake (Nat Wolff, New
Year's Eve) with her, she seeks solace in the woman she's barely recognized
in decades. Of course, there's an immediate clash of cultures, personalities,
and ideals. But as the sweet smoke flows and the "brief visit" expands to an
entire summer, the laid back ways of Earth Grandma overcome the uptight city
folk. Before long, they are finding romance among the locals and realizing that
being stuck in the '60s is not such a bad mental deal after all.

Argh! Why do we viewers have to put up with this? Why is so much good talent
wasted on such a stupid, simplistic story? Apparently, all one has to do in
order to fix their otherwise fractured life is get in touch with nature, smoke
some decent weed, bay at the moon at least once a month, and set their own inner
Wayback Machine to somewhere circa the dawning of the age of Aquarius. A
conflict of mores or political mindsets is one thing. Struggling to turn said
stereotyping into something significant is apparently way outside the comfort
zone for first time screen scribes Joseph Muszynski and Christina Mengert. One
has to wonder if they were even born when the Summer of Love found its music
fest nirvana, or if everything they're spewing -- literarily -- comes from
rumor, innuendo, and fictitious fact. Sure, there must be happening holdovers
and random burnouts. After all, the Dude abides. But Peace, Love, and
Misunderstanding (maybe Elvis Costello should sue too) dares to dream of a
fantasy land where the horrors of human heartache are cured via incense and
peppermints.

And, sadly, this land is populated with some fine actors and equally
excellent performance. Sure, she's a cliche, but Fonda has fun with her
zoned-out grand-groupie. Imagine Meryl Streep from Mamma Mia! with a bit
more gravitas and you get the idea. Keener can't compete, but she's not really
trying. She's the solemn straight (wo)man here. Similarly, Ms. Olsen and Mr.
Wolff are wasted -- no, not in that way -- upstaged at every step by the
Woodstock residents who capture their eye (and, of course, their heart). Even
Beresford shows the light touch that earned him a continuous career in
Hollywood, if not a great deal of award season accolade or respect. No, this is
a movie misguided by its mannered and maudlin script. Something sharper, and a
damn bit wittier, would have worked wonders.

From a purely technical standpoint, you couldn't ask for a better transfer.
Since it was shot digitally with Redcode RAW cameras, the 2.35:1/1080p image is
excellent. The colors are crisp and bright, the contrasts easily controlled and
details alive with local color. About the only thing you'll miss is the
antiquity of celluloid. From a sound standpoint, the lossless DTS-Master Audio
5.1 mix is limited in its surround situations, but overall, delivers clear
dialogue and nice ambient elements. The score is unobtrusive and the feeling
more light and subtle. As for added content, there's a very minor EPK-lite
featurette which more or less functions like an extended trailer, which is odd
since the only other bonus is an actual preview. Oddly enough, the movie begins
with more coming soon clips that have to be bypassed in order to get to the main
menu.

As one of the rare actresses with two Oscars (1971's Klute, 1978's
Coming Home) Jane Fonda is one of those famed performers who breathe the
rarified air of a living legend. Over the last few years, she's been trying to
stage a significant career comeback. Just like the titles that came before --
Monster-in-Law, Georgia Rule -- Peace, Love and
Misunderstanding is another misstep...and it's not funny to watch it
happen.